Trump faces new Republican resistance in Congress as midterm pressures build
Trump faces new Republican resistance in Congress as midterm pressures build
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) – Donald Trump is facing widening opposition within his own party as Republican lawmakers in Congress, long reluctant to defy him, are showing a greater willingness to break ranks with the U.S. president.
Just over the past week, multiple factions of Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives have stepped forward to rebuke his war against Iran, reject $1 billion in funding tied to his White House ballroom, force a retreat on his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and block his legislation on domestic spying.
The House also defied Trump by passing a bill on Thursday to provide aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia, a measure that seems destined for a veto by the president.
Republicans and Democrats are skeptical that Trump faces an actual revolt. But a growing coalition of Republicans is showing a willingness to break with him, including those Trump has personally helped to drum out of office, and could pose a threat to his most ambitious initiatives between now and Election Day.
“I think what you’re seeing as you get closer to the election is that people are going to vote the way they think their constituents want them to,” said Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who announced his retirement from the Senate last year after opposing the president’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
Democrats largely dismissed the idea, saying there has been no evidence that the party at large is willing to defy him on major issues.
“The people that are breaking with him are ones that were put out by Trump,” said Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat who sometimes supports Trump-backed initiatives. “That actually demonstrates his absolute control over the party.”
One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, chalked Republican dissent up to “election-year politics.” “Not every single member will absorb the political cost on every single issue,” the person said.
“While the media and Democrats attempt to sow nonexistent divisions, we look forward to continuing this close relationship to continue fulfilling President Trump’s agenda,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.
A NEW WILLINGNESS TO RESIST TRUMP
For years, Republican lawmakers have shown public fealty to Trump by backing controversial cabinet picks, showing little or no resistance to his executive orders and supporting his signature legislation despite misgivings about the ballooning deficit and cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income Americans.
Lawmakers and aides say frustration and resentment have grown since Trump opposed the reelection bids of Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn and endangered the Republican agenda in Congress with a series of badly timed announcements.
The inflection point came just before the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, when Trump’s decision to oppose the reelection of Cornyn and the announcement of his “anti-weaponization” fund forced Senate Republicans to abandon a $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill and leave town in a mood of anger and frustration.
“That was kind of like a perfect storm of events,” a Senate Republican aide said.
The Senate ultimately passed the immigration enforcement funding bill on Friday, and Republicans voted against a Democratic amendment to block the fund, even as some worry it could be used to pay January 6 Capitol rioters and other Trump political allies.
Trump appointed loyalist Bill Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard as a temporary Director of National Intelligence, even though key Republicans have misgivings.
Senator Mitch McConnell made it clear he would not back Pulte as a permanent DNI, saying the law required nominees with extensive experience. “No nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote,” he said in a statement.
BATTLES OVER NOMINATIONS LOOM
Republican opposition on the floors of the House and Senate have been mostly symbolic to date.
Three electorally vulnerable Senate Republicans – Susan Collins, Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan – joined an attempt by Democrats to ban Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund on Thursday in a measure that didn’t pass, along with two other Republican attempts to end the fund.
“This whole exercise is to pass President Trump’s top agenda item to secure the border, fund ICE. What’s happening on the floor right now shows the solidarity that we have with the president,” Republican Senator Jim Banks, a Trump ally, said as lawmakers voted.
Trump’s next big challenge is likely to be his expected nomination of his former attorney Todd Blanche as permanent U.S. attorney general, a move that could face an uphill battle in the Senate. The first stop would be the Senate Judiciary Committee, a panel that includes Trump retribution casualty Cornyn, who said his support would depend on how Blanche answers certain questions.
“The attorney general is not the president’s private lawyer,” Cornyn told reporters. “I want to make sure he understands the difference and is committed to making sure that the law is enforced.”
(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose and Bo Erickson; Editing by Alistair Bell)
National Highways says three northbound lanes of the M6 are closed between junctions 25 and 26.
Ministers Sam Mézec and fellow party member Rob Ward are unsuccessful in their re-election attempts.
An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines, killing at least 12 and sparking a 3-foot tsunami along nearby coasts, officials said.
At a Swiss nursing home, Marcelle Mivelaz celebrated her 80th birthday surrounded by friends, as a team of mostly foreign nurses and caregivers ensured the day ran smoothly.”If there aren’t enough caregivers, our healthcare system is headed for disaster,” Carine Savioz, a Swiss nurse at the Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne home, told AFP.
“This worries me,” acknowledged 81-year-old Marie-Therese Barraz, standing next to Mivelaz.
By Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema MANILA, June 8 (Reuters) – At least 15 people were feared dead in the southern Philippines on Monday after a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the island of
Bradford midwife Viv Dolby has been given a silver award from NHS England’s chief midwifery officer.
Israel and Iran were firing missiles at each other Monday, endangering the shaky truce that’s been in place as well as talks on a deal to end the fighting.
Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war.- Warning –
Tehran has insisted any deal to permanently end the war must also halt the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel was pursuing a campaign against the Iran-backed movement Hezbollah.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said last month that it’s more than doubled the pace of its net-laying since last year, reaching 5.2 miles per day.
A grandfather, a survivor, a witness: one year after the crash, the people on the ground tell their stories.
Multiple countries also issued tsunami warnings after the 7.8 magnitude quake struck off the island of Mindanao.
SEOUL/BEIJING, June 8 (Reuters) – Ties between China and North Korea are at a “new historical starting point”, President Xi Jinping said on Monday in remarks published in the neighbour’s state media as he arrived in Pyongyang for a rare summit with leader Kim Jong Un. China’s unwavering policy is to develop ties with the North and both will strengthen exchanges in all areas, Xi said in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper ahead of a visit seen as significant because it is his first international trip
Motorists are facing long delays as three of four lanes are closed for resurfacing work.
The scheme aims to tackle the “growing challenge” of young people not in employment, education, or training.
The council will lease new care homes built by developers and invite care providers to run them.
As AI heavyweights including Nvidia, Intel and SK Group last week championed Taiwan’s significance as a crucial hub for the global supply chain, a hostile exchange with China was brewing at sea. On the final day of the high-profile Computex conference in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan’s coast guard faced off against Chinese counterparts in the contested South China Sea. “Peace in the Taiwan Strait is vital to the stability of the global economy, and the lifeline of the technology industry,” Taiwan’s coast guard broadcast in a warning to a Chinese vessel near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
A earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the Mindanao region in the southern Philippines on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), triggering scenes of panic in parts of the archipelago as buildings collapsed and several deaths were reported.
An Essex NHS trust discloses the data breach more than six months after it was notified about it.
Indian youth, frustrated with unemployment and corruption, are calling themselves cockroaches.
Residents have their say on the the first week of a new recycling scheme across the county.
Powered by WPeMatico